Adventures with the Biggest Bass 



pound fish beautifully marked with red, yellow, green 

 and gold ; as I unhooked it, it grunted and croaked so 

 loud a protest that I tossed it back. 



" 'Scuse me, mawster," said Scope, " but dat set- 

 tles it." 



" Settles what? " I queried. 



" De fishin'," replied Scope, rolling up his line in 

 a peculiar overhand fashion. " Dat grunt dun gone 

 down an' tole de res' of de fish." 



I laughed him to scorn, but, nevertheless, it was 

 the last bite I had for an hour; then I landed another 

 grunt, and Scope reckoned " Dey had done forgot 

 it," and unwound his line. I soon had a heavy bite, 

 and after some good sport landed a hogfish, a great 

 red be-finned creature which I had often taken off the 

 barrier reef in the breakers. This was followed by 

 a red grouper ; then came yellowtails and a ten-pound 

 porgy; finally a peculiar bite was felt, and after a 

 struggle I jerked into the boat a murray nearly four 

 feet long, a spotted, hideous creature, the image of a 

 snake, which opened its mouth and made for Scope, 

 who struck it down with the tiller. My next fish 

 mark the variety in the finny procession was a sea 

 porcupine, a fish often seen in curiosity stores, puffed 

 up like a balloon and covered with spines. This is 

 not its normal condition. My porcupine came up 

 slim but fretful, its spines, as Scope said, all " pointed 

 aft " ; but the moment it was placed in the boat it 

 began to grunt and to inflate itself until it assumed 



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